{"id":71454,"date":"2020-01-21T21:33:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T20:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=71454"},"modified":"2020-01-21T21:33:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T20:33:16","slug":"the-bane-of-the-nigerian-health-care-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/the-bane-of-the-nigerian-health-care-system\/","title":{"rendered":"The bane of the Nigerian health care system"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
By TochukwuEzukanma<\/p>\n

The Nigerian political elite behave like a colonial or Apartheid elite.
\nThey inhabit an island of opulence and extravagance in an ocean of
\nencompassing poverty and mass suffering. It is an island governed by
\nvicious exploitation of the system, crass contempt for the people and
\ntotal indifference to the pervading misery of the masses. Therefore, it
\nis not uncommon for the Minister of Education, in his mindless elitism,
\nand unconcealed disdain for the educational system he administers, to
\nhave all his children studying in schools overseas. It is also not
\nunusual for the Minister of Health, in his utter scorn for the health
\ncare system that he superintends, to travel to Britain, Germany or
\nAmerican, just for routine medical checkups.
\nWithout any personal stake in the institutions they administer, they are
\ncondescendingly uninterested in the decline and decay of Nigerian
\ninstitutions. The bane of the Nigerian health care delivery system is
\nthe refusal of the Nigerian power elite and their family members to
\nutilize Nigerian hospitals. The first step in improving the state of
\nNigerian hospitals is in putting an end to medical tourism by our rulers
\nand their family members, and thus, making it imperative that they use
\nNigerian hospitals.
\nAs of 2014, overseas medical trips by high ranking government officials
\ncost the federal government about N250 billion ($1.25 billion).The
\nJonathan administration tried to reduce medical tourism to its barest
\nminimum by stopping government officials from seeking medical treatment
\nabroad, except in cases it can be proven that the needed medical
\nservices do not exist in the country. Nigerians had reasonably expected
\nthat President Buhari, in consonant with his promised \u201cchange\u201d, will
\nreduce medical tourism and its attendant toll on public coffers, and
\ncorollary, improve the health services with the country.
\nParadoxically, more than any other Nigerian president, Mohammadu Buhari,
\nglamorized medical tourism. It received a matchless boost from his
\nadministration. Some of his medical trips were necessary, as some of his
\nillnesses demanded medical services not available in the country. But,
\nat least, one of them, to treat an ear infection, was certainly
\nsuperfluous. An ear infection is not an exceptionally grievous illness;
\nit could have been treated in Nigeria. That trip was disconcertingly
\nreminiscent of the scornful antics of earlier Nigerian administrations,
\nand their dramatized insensitivity to public sentiments. After more than
\nfour years of the Buhari presidency, medical tourism continues
\nunhindered, and the Nigerian healthcare delivery system remains moribund
\nand in disarray.
\nIn May 2019, the former Nigerian Minister for Health, Isaac Adewole,
\nappeared before the Nigeria senate. And the then Senate President,
\nBukola Saraki, said, \u201cThe senate is concerned with the deteriorating
\nconditions of hospitals and health facilities across the country.\u201d For,
\n\u201cdespite the annual budgetary allocation to the health sector, Nigerians
\nare still dying because of obsolete equipments, poor state of
\ninfrastructure, lack of generating sets, lack of power, sometimes lack
\nof diesel, lack of drugs etc \u2026\u201d Ostensibly alarmed about the despicable
\nstate of the healthcare delivery system in the country, the senators
\nquestioned the minister; and the scholarly, starchy professor of
\nmedicine answered their pointed questions. But then, despite the
\nsupposed solemnity and appropriateness of the legislative exercise, like
\nmost things Nigerian, it was a charade, just an exercise in hypocrisy.
\nThe fundamental source of the problems of the Nigerian health system is
\nobvious, and the senators grilling the Minister for Health knew it. The
\nhealth system is suffering from neglect. Both at the state and federal
\nlevels, the system is underfunded. At the African Union Abuja
\nDeclaration of 2001, African leaders pledged to commit at least 15% of
\ntheir annual budgets to health. Lamentably, Nigeria has never, for once,
\nmet this benchmark. It has never allocated more that 6% of its budget to
\nhealth care. Secondly, due to corruption, a significant percentage of
\nthe health budget is peculated by government officials and hospital
\nadministrators.
\nHealth workers are not motivated because they are inadequately
\nremunerated, and are sometimes, not paid their salaries for many months.
\nAnd the federal government is notorious for reneging on its agreements
\nwith health workers, especially, on remunerations and employee benefits.
\nNot surprisingly, strikes by medical doctors and other health workers
\nare prevalent in Nigeria. There is mass exodus of Nigerian doctors and
\nother health workers, especially, the most qualified, to different
\ncountries of the world. In addition to reducing the quality of available
\nmedical workers in the country, it increases the ratio of health workers
\nto the general population. With this alarming mix of woes, what can be
\nexpected of Nigerian hospitals?
\nThey are in a dreadful state. They, especially public hospitals, are
\nsubstandard and inefficiency: equipments are either unavailable or
\nobsolete, infrastructure dilapidated, and lacking generating sets,
\npower, diesel, and drugs. Unmotivated and sometimes, deliberately
\noperating below acceptably medical and ethical standards, the doctors
\nand nurses that run them are mean-spirited, bad-mannered and cold
\nhearted. The hospitals are overcrowded, teeming with patients suffering
\nand dying from variegated diseases, including readily preventable and
\ntreatable ones. Not surprisingly, the number of unnecessary and
\navoidable deaths in our hospitals boggles the mind.\u00a0 Nigeria has one of
\nthe highest pregnancy-related deaths in the world. With 2% of the
\nworld\u2019s population, it accounts for 11% of the world\u2019s maternal
\nmortality and 12% of the world\u2019s under-five mortality.
\nThese problems will continue to fester until those entrusted with the
\nresponsibility of solving them, the political elite, are forced to
\nexperience firsthand the horrors of our hospitals. Until medical tourism
\nis severely curtailed, and the Nigerian ruling elite are forced to
\nexperience firsthand the awfulness of the Nigerian health system, our
\nrulers will not genuinely address the troubles besetting the Nigerian
\nhealth sector.
\nRefreshingly, in a recent event at the Alex Ekwueme Teaching Hospital,
\nAbakaliki, President Buhari, speaking through a representative, demanded
\nan end to medical tourism because the country can no longer afford it.
\nNigerians were both baffled and titillated by this demand from the
\nUbermench of medical tourism. We hope that the statement was dictated by
\na genuine change of heart towards medical tourism, and that Mr.
\nPresident will practice what he is beginning to preach. For \u201can ounce
\nexample is worth more than a ton of precepts\u201d.
\nTochukwuEzukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria
\nmaciln18@yahoo.com<\/a>
\n0803 529 2908<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By TochukwuEzukanma The Nigerian political elite behave like a colonial or Apartheid elite. 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